the locales were far more impressive (and more vertical, which I really love),

THIS! Xenoblade has to have some of the most impressive scale I have ever seen in video games. Those moments where you climb some huge cliff and can look down on everything you just traversed, with a giant looming red eyed robot in the background take my breath away every time.

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I loved the characters and the combat, even thought the story was pretty decent. The only part of that really left a sour taste in my mouth was the fact that the developers thought it adequate to ignore the last 10 years of evolution in the area of interface design. The quest UI, reputation UI, even the inventory were all a complete mess.

I feel like I should revisit FFXII at some point to give it another chance, but the combat completely turned me off. Most of the cast didn't help much either.

One issue I have with Xenoblade, and I guess a lot of RPGs in general, is the fact there is just way to much stuff to collect. When every single enemy you kill leaves behind a treasure chest, often with 5 separate items in each one, I think it devalues them. Put much less items there, but make them unique and worth finding. Also add interesting quests to make finding this stuff enjoyable. I think this would go a long way to making me actually WANT to find everything and go on my quests.

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One issue I have with Xenoblade, and I guess a lot of RPGs in general, is the fact there is just way to much stuff to collect. When every single enemy you kill leaves behind a treasure chest, often with 5 separate items in each one, I think it devalues them. Put much less items there, but make them unique and worth finding. Also add interesting quests to make finding this stuff enjoyable. I think this would go a long way to making me actually WANT to find everything and go on my quests.

I will give Xenoblade credit for letting you know which item is worth keeping and how much of it you need to have on hand, even before you actually get the quest that requires said boar tusks. It's a feature that really should be implemented in every JRPG from now on. Vastly superior to the current method of touching nothing until you get to the end of the game with a guide in your hand that explicitly states what you need to do with what you have and in what order lest you'd take the profession of loot farmer for a fortnight or two.

One issue I have with Xenoblade, and I guess a lot of RPGs in general, is the fact there is just way to much stuff to collect. When every single enemy you kill leaves behind a treasure chest, often with 5 separate items in each one, I think it devalues them. Put much less items there, but make them unique and worth finding. Also add interesting quests to make finding this stuff enjoyable. I think this would go a long way to making me actually WANT to find everything and go on my quests.

I will give Xenoblade credit for letting you know which item is worth keeping and how much of it you need to have on hand, even before you actually get the quest that requires said boar tusks. It's a feature that really should be implemented in every JRPG from now on. Vastly superior to the current method of touching nothing until you get to the end of the game with a guide in your hand that explicitly states what you need to do with what you have and in what order lest you'd take the profession of loot farmer for a fortnight or two.

i concur the quest item system is so good. if every game had that side quests wouldn't seem quite as stupid.

Does the game ever explain the giving presents system? i am about 55 hours in and don't remember seeing any mention of it. I have yet to do it. How is it performed?

One thing I do love is getting experience for finding new locations. Really makes you want to explore and feels really great when you find a secret area.

Also the outfits in this game are just totally insane. Its hard to take some of the cutscenes seriously with some of the stuff my party is wearing. Sharla in particular. dunban on the other hand looks totally bad ass in what I have him wearing.

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Does the game ever explain the giving presents system? i am about 55 hours in and don't remember seeing any mention of it. I have yet to do it. How is it performed?

Go to the collectible menu and select the item you want to gift. Hit "A" then hit give/present and pick who gives it to who.

One of the things the game definitely needed was the ability to select and give multiple presents (of the same kind) at once to each party member.But as it was that feature soon became a chore to me. :/